Vadim Sidorovich

Naust Eco station

This monograph is about predation in vertebrate animal community. The studies were done in the seminatural terrains with transitional mixed forest within the European forest zone in Belarus. The result part was organised as a top-down flow: First, the community characteristics related to predators were estimated. I presented data on predator specie...

This scientific monograph gives a detailed information about population ecology of the endangered carnivore species, the badger Meles meles and the alien naturalized invader, the raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides in Belarus. The badger population decline is considered in a tight connection with the multi-impact of raccoon dogs as well as other f...

This scientific monograph gives a detailed information about reproduction biology in the grey wolf Canis lupus in Belarus. This topic includes the wolf breeding (mating and denning) behavior, fertility of the species and mortality of its pups. The initial material was not collected occasionally from wolf hunters and wolf pup searchers, but mainly g...

In this monograph, we present new findings and hypotheses on Eurasian lynx ecology and behaviour. Initially, we used a traditional approach to study lynxes in the wild, with telemetry as one of the main research methods. However, as several artefacts and shortcomings of this method to study lynx behaviour became apparent, we gradually elaborated a...

This scientific book gives the results of the long-term studies on the Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx in Belarus, mainly in Naliboki Forest and Paazierre Forest. Population structure, breeding, diet and prey supply as well as the variety of behavioural traits were considered. Among behavioural questions there were investigated sociality, hunting modes, ma...

The increasing trend of large carnivore attacks on humans not only raises human safety concerns but may also undermine large carnivore conservation efforts. Although rare, attacks by brown bears Ursus arctos are also on the rise and, although several studies have addressed this issue at local scales, information is lacking on a worldwide scale. Her...

Hybridisation between a domesticated species and its wild ancestor is an important conservation problem, especially if it results in the introgression of domestic gene variants into wild species. Nevertheless, the legal status of hybrids remains unregulated, partially because of the limited understanding of the hybridisation process and its consequ...

We examined common buzzard (Buteo buteo) feeding patterns in landscapes with different habitat structure in Belarus. A total of 561 pellets and prey remains were sampled in 1998-2012 from which 1065 prey and other food items were identified. Effects of habitat structure on buzzard diet composition were investigated using correlation analysis. The m...

Many studies have investigated the ecology of wolf populations of Eurasia, showing that although wolves are mostly opportunistic in seeking meso-large enough mammalian prey, they can also be selective, depending on local availability of prey and their population biomass. Yet prey preferences of the wolf have been poorly evaluated in situations of c...

We conducted a 15-year study (1999–2014) of wolf denning behavior in Naliboki Forest, Belarus, to determine the extent to which some external factors (rain, mosquitoes, human disturbances) and litter size are negatively correlated with pup survival until autumn.

To investigate genetic diversity and the population structure of the European moose (Alces alces), we analyzed 14 microsatellite loci for 694 samples collected across 16 localities. The highest genetic diversity was detected in Belarus and Russia and the lowest was found in Scandinavia. Two major genetic clusters existed, Scandinavian and continent...

Ecological and environmental heterogeneity can produce genetic differentiation in highly mobile species. Accordingly, local adaptation may be expected across comparatively short distances in the presence of marked environmental gradients. Within the European continent, wolves (Canis lupus) exhibit distinct north–south population differentiation. We...

Table S1. Correlation between environmental variables (detailed in Table 1). Table S2. Complete identification for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci on the Illumina CanineHD BeadChip (170K SNPs) with information from the MAP‐file in PLINK. Table S3. Summary of major functional genes near single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci identifie...

We studied feeding patterns of red fox (Vulpes vulpes L.) cubs and the distribution of their breeding earths in the Naliboki Forest (Central Western Belarus) and rural surroundings. Red fox earths (n = 110) were checked annually in 2004-2010, 902 scats and prey remains (from 22 litters) were collected. The data were analysed with respect to litter...

Due to their high mobility, large terrestrial predators are potentially capable of maintaining high connectivity, and therefore low genetic differentiation among populations. However, previous molecular studies have provided contradictory findings in relation to this. To elucidate patterns of genetic structure in large carnivores, we studied the ge...

Aim Moose, Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758), survived the European Pleistocene glaciations in multiple southern refugia, in a northern refugium near the Carpathians and possibly in other locations. During the second millennium ad , moose were nearly extirpated in Europe and only recolonized their current range after World War II . The number and locati...

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is one of the most widely distributed mammals in Europe. Its demography was affected by various events in the past and today populations are increasing throughout Europe. We examined genetic diversity, structure and population dynamics of wild boar in Central and Eastern Europe. MtDNA control region (664 bp) was sequenced...

Aim Climate changes in the past had a deep impact on the evolutionary history of many species and left genetic signatures that are often still detectable today. We investigated the geographical pattern of mitochondrial DNA diversity in the European wild boar (Sus scrofa). Our final aims were to clarify the influence of present and past climatic co...

Genomic resources developed for domesticated species provide powerful tools for studying the evolutionary history of their wild relatives. Here we use 61K single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) evenly spaced throughout the canine nuclear genome to analyse evolutionary relationships among the three largest European populations of grey wolves in comp...

European wolves (Canis lupus) show population genetic structure in the absence of geographic barriers, and across relatively short distances for this highly mobile species. Additional information on the location of and divergence between population clusters is required, particularly because wolves are currently recolonizing parts of Europe. We eval...

European wolves (Canis lupus) show population genetic structure in the absence of geographic barriers, and across relatively short distances for this highly mobile species. Additional information on the location of and divergence between population clusters is required, particularly because wolves are currently recolonizing parts of Europe. We eval...

As part of a conservation initiative, we released captive-bred individuals of European mink (Mustela lutreola) onto a Baltic island ‘sanctuary’, Hiiumaa (Estonia), and investigated the development of their diet in the wild. Fifty-four animals out of the 172 released were equipped with radio collars and tracked in 2000–2003 intensively after release...

Recent studies on highly mobile carnivores revealed cryptic population genetic structures correlated to transitions in habitat types and prey species composition. This led to the hypothesis that natal-habitat-biased dispersal may be responsible for generating population genetic structure. However, direct evidence for the concordant ecological and g...

Sample information and δ15N and δ13C isotope profiles (‰) for wolf prey species analyzed in this study. (PDF)

IsoSource dietary mixing polygon for Eastern European grey wolves. The wolf δ13C and δ15N values are plotted with potential prey. Trophic enrichment values of 1.3‰ for δ13C and 4.6‰ for δ15N (from Fox-Dobbs et al. 2007) were added to the mean δ13C and δ15N values of potential prey. Stable isotope profiles are presented as mean and standard deviatio...

Distributions of posterior estimates of proportional contributions of prey sources in diet of Eastern European wolves inferred from the stable isotope data using MixSIR for: four subpopulations delimited based on mtDNA variability (MIT 1-MIT 4), two subpopulations delimited based on microsatellite variability (NUC 1, NUC 2), and the entire populati...

Sample information and δ15N and δ13C isotope profiles (‰) for 110 Eastern European wolves analyzed in this study. (PDF)

Diet composition of wolves inferred from the stable isotope data using MixSIR. For: (A) four subpopulations delimited based on mtDNA variability (MIT 1- MIT 4), (B) two subpopulations delimited based on microsatellite variability (NUC 1, NUC 2), and (C) all individuals pulled together. The result for the subpopulation MIT 4 is based on one individu...

Effects of ecological factors and geographical distance on genetic differentiation of Eastern European wolves. The tests were performed in the same way as those presented in Table for, but additional explanatory variables were considered. For details see Table 4 legend and Methods section with the description of the tests. (PDF)

High-throughput genotyping technologies developed for model species can potentially increase the resolution of demographic history and ancestry in wild relatives. We use a SNP genotyping microarray developed for the domestic dog to assay variation in over 48K loci in wolf-like species worldwide. Despite the high mobility of these large carnivores,...

Sidorovich, V. E., Rotenko, I. I. & Krasko, D. A. 2011: Badger Meles meles spatial structure and diet in an area of low earthworm biomass and high predation risk. — Ann. Zool. Fennici 48: 1–16. Investigating the endangered badger Meles meles population in Belarus we aimed to find out in accordance with which model, i.e. bottom-up or top-down, it is...

European red deer are known to show a conspicuous phylogeographic pattern with three distinct mtDNA lineages (western, eastern and North-African/Sardinian). The western lineage, believed to be indicative of a southwestern glacial refuge in Iberia and southern France, nowadays covers large areas of the continent including the British Isles, Scandina...